Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Calibrachoa sp. cultivar KLEC02072.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Calibrachoa plant, botanically known as Calibrachoa sp., and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98KLEC02072xe2x80x99.
The new Calibrachoa is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Stuttgart, Germany. The objective of the program is to create new early-flowering Calibrachoa cultivars with compact and cascading growth habit, freely branching habit and attractive flower colors.
The new Calibrachoa originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor during the summer of 1999 of a proprietary selection of Calibrachoa identified as code number S 14, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Calibrachoa identified as code number S 52, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Calibrachoa was selected by the Inventor in May, 2000 in a controlled environment in Stuttgart, Germany from within the resulting progeny from the cross-pollination.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Stuttgart, Germany since May, 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Calibrachoa are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar KLEC02072 have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity and daylength without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98KLEC02072xe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98KLEC02072xe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar of Calibrachoa:
1. Cascading plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit.
3. Early flowering habit.
4. Red-colored flowers.
5. Good weather tolerance; tolerant to rain and wind and high and low temperatures.
Plants of the new Calibrachoa have a more trailing plant habit than plants of the female parent selection. Plants of the new Calibrachoa and the male parent selection differ in flower coloration as flowers of plants of the male parent selection were pink in color.
Plants of the cultivar KLEC02072 can be compared to plants of the Calibrachoa cultivar Sunbelchipi, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,355. However, in side-by-side comparisons conducted in Stuttgart, Germany, plants of the new Calibrachoa and the cultivar Sunbelchipi, differed primarily in flower color as plants of the cultivar Sunbelchipi had cherry red-colored flowers.